Jorge Martin… again. The Pramac Racing spaniard is a true specialist and is on top form in MotoGP, and he won yet another Sprint race, his third in a row. Pecco Bagnaia reached the podium in the final moments of the race, finishing behind Brad Binder, who made a tremendous start!
Martin got off to a good start and kept the lead, but the highlight of the first lap was Brad Binder, who gained three positions and moved into second place. Jack Miller was third and Pecco Bagnaia dropped two positions to fourth. Marc Marquez Bezzecchi gained two places and was fifth, ahead of Marco Bezzecchi.
With two laps completed, all the riders were doing their best laps yet, but little had changed and Binder held on to second place, 0.442s off the leader, with Miller in third at 1.022 behind his teammate, while Bagnaia began to close the gap on Miller. Johann Zarco was sixth after stealing the position from Bezzecchi.
On lap five, the positions remained broadly unchanged, and shortly afterwards, with the race halfway over, the top ten was set:
Marquez was still fifth but his position was under increasing threat… from Bezzecchi. The italian had beaten Zarco and was on the attack and only 0.138s divided the #72 from the #93. At the front of the race Martin now led by more than 1s over Binder while Miller had Bagnaia at 0.112s.
In the fight between Bezzecchi and Marquez, the italian attacked from the inside but both he and the spaniard went wide and Zarco didn’t waste the «gift» to take fifth place.
Three laps to go and Bagnaia was still dangerously close to Miller, but the australian was holding out.
Aleix Espargaró was still in trouble: the Aprilia rider was the first to retire from the race and it seemed that he was once again suffering from mechanical problems with his RS-GP.
A few moments into the final two laps, Miller gave in to the world champion’s pressure and the latter climbed to third and began to slip away. In just one sector, the Italian gained three tenths on the KTM rider.
The race was soon over and Martin confirmed his victory at Motegi, his third Sprint win in a row. Binder was second and Bagnaia minimised the damage but was now «only» eight points ahead in the championship.